My understanding is that he did have a hand in it at the beginning, but that he was not there to see the project through. He took the concepts laid out in the Lightstar and formed Sunfire around it. Those that took over for Bob in the design part turned to Dan Laufman, who Bob was using as a source for circuit board designed in China, to finish the Lightstar project. Dan Laufman became a key figure at Phoenix Gold, but when Bob was finally able to regain the rights to his name, Lightstar came to an end.

Dan purchased the manufacturer in China that was doing all the design and building of the PG stuff and started Emotiva shortly thereafter. Their first amp was a clone of a Carver Digital amp, and shared identical construction, soundcards and specs.

I am not confident that my post is 100% correct as it has been gleaned from research on the web and old conversations with Bob... I hope someone with more knowledge than I will step up with their input.

I thought you were refering to the amp... my bad. It would stand to reason however that both were developed about the same time., and although it may have begun with Bob, it may have had someone else's hands all over it after he left the company. I will try and get some information from him next time we speak, or you can get to Carverfest and ask him yourself.

You are WAY off.... Bob had NOTHING to do with the Lightstar Direct or the Lightstar II Amplifier.Bob had finished the design, and prototyping of the Lightstar Reference. When is finished, he took a break, and was gone for about 2 weeks.When he returned, he came back to a boardroom full of lawyers. That is when he was ousted from the company.Jim Croft and Vic Richardson took over the Carver Research department when Bob left.Vic and Jim voiced and did the cosmetic design work on the original Lightstar Reference amplifier.A guy named Dave Ozzy (who passed away a few years ago) was the one that designed the Lightstar Direct preamp. He was also helped (or did all the work him self, not sure yet)re-designed the Lightstar Reference amplifier, and made the Lightstar II amplifier. I am pretty sure Jim Croft was the one that voiced both amplifiers.

It's very hard to get some of these details sometimes. I will post more if anything else pertinent comes up.

I had a strong feeling I was off on this one.... my statement then would only apply to Carver DIGITAL stuff and NOT to Lightstar. It would sure be nice if someone did a "biography" of Bob and his gear so the facts could be all in one place.

Toy Maker wrote:I know... I have never done a biography on anyone, and need to look into some structure, and probably learn HOW to do it.

A simple format...BirthEarly life and education, with a backround on early accomplishmentsThe birth of Phase Linear, history of company and products and why his time there came to an endSame thing for the Carver CorporationDitto for SunfireThe three above sections should include discussion of ideas and product that never saw the light of day and those that helped advance his knowlege and understanding of his work, and also the impact and contributions of others and how his family life played a role(this is a biography after all )

A glimpse into the future and the direction/role he intends to play in it would also be insightful.

This will be a MASSIVE project, so if you would like some help just ask...

Well, lets make a new thread, and start posting things that would be interesting to see in a Bob Carver Biography. Go here and post your ideas. It will be a good place to post and save the ideas for possible use later.